Keeping our employees and their communities safe during the coronavirus pandemic

Update: in response to the most recent Government advice we have accelerated the schedule outlined below. All UNA-UK staff are now working from home and our office is closed with immediate effect.

This UNA-UK policy statement is effective immediately and will continue until the World Health Organisation or UK Government deem it appropriate to step back from precautionary measures. 

Our top priority remains the health and safety of our staff, our stakeholders and people on our premises.  We have continued to monitor the situation closely and are adjusting our internal policies to respond to this rapidly-evolving situation. 

Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 for us - and the people around us, in particular those at high risk. We are operating out of an abundance of caution and the utmost dedication to keeping our people healthy. We are now formally implementing the following:

• Any staff who does not feel well and is showing symptoms that could suggest a case of COVID-19 is advised to inform their manager and isolate themselves immediately
• We have started to notify partners that we are suspending all business travel and attendance at events.
• All UNA-UK staff are strongly encouraged to avoid physical meetings and to arrange any future meetings via telephone or video conferencing facilities.
• We are strongly encouraging staff who have regular contact with vulnerable people to work remotely
• Our policy to work remotely for all staff will be implemented in stages from tomorrow as detailed below

1. On Friday, 13 March the UNA-UK office will be closed to visitors, all staff will be working remotely.  UNA-UK staff will continue to monitor all our email accounts and respond to email queries as usual. All general and membership queries should continue to be sent to info@una.org.uk. We will continue to respond to general telephone enquiries to 0202 7766 3454.
2. During the following two weeks, our main office will be closed on Wednesdays and Fridays and staff will agree with managers their remote working plans. Some staff will be working remotely immediately on a full-time basis.
3. From 1 April all staff will be working remotely on a full-time basis until the situation in the UK improves and it is safe for staff to start travelling and working from the UNA-UK office
4. For those employees who prefer or need to come into the UNA-UK office, the option for them to do so will rest with the Acting Executive Director.
5. There may be occasions when it will be necessary for a staff member to attend to matters at the UNA-UK office (for example to pick up post or respond to Licencee queries or oversee scheduled planned works with contractors), these visits will be kept to a minimum

We understand this is an unprecedented step, but these are unprecedented times. And we will continue to do all that we can to support our staff and people on the premises. 

We’ll continue to update this statement as we navigate through these unprecedented times. Our top priority is keeping our staff and everyone on our premises healthy. While this is a big change for us, we already have made good progress with moving towards more remote working and a paperless office.

There are enormous transnational efforts underway to tackle this virus. For us to Implement this policy immediately is an important element of that.

We want to thank our members, supporters, partners and stakeholders for their patience and understanding.